Kayak Koz

We all go fishing with the idea that we'll catch a bunch or catch a big one every time we go out, so it's definitely disappointing when we come up empty. And while I myself am disappointed when those days happen, I've watched MLF BPT events where pros get skunked for the day - and those guys are fishing for a paycheck. Winter fishing has been brutal for me, but I also don't spend 6 or 8 hours a day on the water in winter. But the days are getting warmer with temperatures getting into the 60's, I know good fishing is right around the corner. Now we just need to get rid of those 30 degree nights,

Guntersville May 18th and 19th?

Yesterday was my first Bass Nation Kayak Series event and as luck would have it, the tournament was on my home lake. The lake is still junk right now as it's still muddle (less than 1" visibility) and there's lots of debris in the water. I pre-fished for two days leading up to the event and had moderate success fishing switchbacks where the creek channel swung close to the banks. Timing was key as it is on any winter day, but these spots made for a short run for bass coming from deeper water to the. shallows. I also fished a bunch of inlets with lots of timber but didn't have a bite and rarely saw anything on my electronics. All this fish seemed to be in the main lake wherever I fished. The weather had been warmer in the 60;s and low 70's and I found lake temperatures ranging from 58 - 62 degrees. A front moved in overnight for tournament day and temperatures dropped into the 50's. Weather became a big factor. Anyway, as I'm packing out my dog, who is in the house, sees me loading my kayak and starts barking like crazy and won't stop. I guess I should not have given him a kayak ride the day before. I set off, get down the road, and realize I forgot to make an identifier card for the photos of anything I catch. I have no pen and paper in the car so I turn around and go home to get them. When I got home to grab that I realized I had also forgot my cooler. Old age is not so fun. My dog is still going nuts. I get to the lake, unload, and start rigging up my main battery, motor, layout, etc. while tied off to the dock. I hit the button for my nav lights and - nothing. I open the hatch, try it again, and don't hear the servo click on my switch box. Oh yeah - rather than do this from inside the kayak I'm lying across the dock trying to service the issue. I pull the battery (which was charged the night before), check the battery connections, then lean in more to check the connections on the stitch box. Well, my key fob was in my pocket and I accidentally hit the panic button setting off my car alarm. So I get up to sprint back to my truck and knock my electronics / lights battery into 10 feet of murky water. Brilliant. Just brilliant. I tried to feel for it with my kayak paddle, but no luck. If the water was warm I would have went in after it, but the water is still cold around here. We're minutes from the start of the tournament and rather than fumble with pulling cable runs, stripping cable connections, and connecting directly to my trolling motor battery (which usually isn't a good idea anyway) I decide to go without electronics for the day. The spot where I want to start is about 20 minutes from my launch site. The temperature is about 55 degrees with winds 6-8 mph. On my way there I feel the temperature drop. Ten minutes into fishing the wind picks up and it's getting nautical out there. Winds are now 14-21mph and my sweatshirt, thermals, and rain jacket aren't keeping me warm. Luckily, my house is not far from there and I steam home and grab a warm jacket and some warmer gloves. Yes, the dog was still barking like crazy. On a side not, the other day I purchased a Striker Predator jacket ($177) specifically for when it gets cold out on the water. I am more than pleased with this purchase. It kept me warm and my PFD fit over it with ease. The say it also provides flotation assistance if you ever end up in the water. I headed back out, but frankly it was pretty scary out there on open water in a 12 foot kayak. On open water the waves were crashing over my bow. I fished a few protected coves but got only one bite. I ran into half a dozen other guys on kayaks and in boat tournaments and no one was having any luck. So I abandoned my plan and made a long run (almost 2 miles) on open water to try a few protected coves that have produced in the past. No luck. And it certainly wasn't fun traversing that open water with the wind, waves, and wakes. Even with a 100ah trolling motor battery, I'm pretty sure I was going through it quickly as I had to set it at 8/10 to make any headway against the wind in open water. The last thing I wanted to do is to be caught far from my launch and have to paddle in those wind and waves. So I headed back towards my launch and by the time I got there I decided to pack it in early. I was on the water for for only half a day. Had the water been warm I probably would have toughed it out. And though I never felt like my kayak was unstable, I just didn't feel safe out there. Maybe if I had electronics I would have camped somewhere in one of the coves. In the end, nearly have the field of 50+ anglers caught nothing on the day. But the guy that came in first killed it with 98". That's great for any time of year. Anyway, I went home and bought a new battery. I'm supposed to fish a Bassmaster kayak tournament at Lake Murray next weekend, but I'm going to pass. Between the tournament fees, boarding my dog, hotel costs, food, and travel it's getting a bot expensive. No more 2 and 3 day overnight tournaments this year. And no more knocking batteries in the lake.

How big a difference was it going from the 32 to the 34 transducer? Was it incremental or was it WOW?

Sorry man, I was not implying that you showed any disrespect. I was trying to get across how much I admire her - and that I'm probably a little jealous.

She's also a well known angler and has sponsors that help foot part of the bill. She deserves every penny of that as she works hard and promotes the sport. She's also a very good angler. I don't see her signed up for Bassmaster at Lake Murray, but so far there are 203 entries. I bet there's close to 300 by tournament time. That's too bad that you wont be there. We could have gone out to dinner and told lies about our fishing escapades! Do you stand and fish most of the time? I imagine that if you're seated the console units get in the way.

I was getting 5-7 hours of sleep each night and much of that was a restless sleep. One problem is that when I’m up, I’m up. I usually can’t fall back asleep. But three weeks ago I gave up eating sugar. No sweets, no food with sugar except maybe a piece of fruit. If the label says it has sugar or added sugars I put it back. My beverages were already sugar free. So now it’s lean meats, vegetables, and rice. For snacks it’s things like nuts or a few pretzels. While it’s not an ingrained habit yet, it’s easier than I thought since I don’t eat out and I’m an OK cook. I have noticed that I am sleeping better, getting 7-8 hours of sleep most nights. I also fall asleep quicker, which is nice.

It would be a dual setup as my Helix 7 does not support live imaging. The fact is, when I bought my Helix I never dreamed that I would be considering live imaging. That was a mistake. Heck, that’s been the story of my kayak fishing - not planning a fully upgradable path, from the kayak itself to the accessories and electronics. Learn from my mistakes, fellow anglers, and save yourself a bunch of money.

From what I've seen, to get the most out of it there's a decent sized learning curve not only on reading the electronics, but also understanding what the fish are really doing. I think that if I do splurge and get it I would keep my Helix 7 onboard for the mapping (I have Lakemaster Premium) and down imaging and side imaging. With that, I'd move the units off the rail. I've seen some folks run a bar across the width of the kayak and attach the units so they are right in front of you up near the trolling motor. But since I like to sit and fish I think they would get in my way. I thought about somehow mounting them lower, just off the deck, but I'm not sure if that's feasible.

Last year I fished some MLF Phoenix Series events as a co-angler and while it was mostly fun and interesting, I also found it frustrating not controlling my own destiny on the water. So this winter I bought an Old Town Sportsman Autopilot with the plan to fish two Bassmaster Kayak Series events (Lake Murray and Lake Eufaula) and a handful of Bass Nation events. I'll still fish 2-3 local MLF events as well. But as I gear up for this season and check out what other competitors are doing, it seems that just about everyone is running some sort of forward facing sonar. Heck, a lot of guys are running TWO FFS units on their kayaks! This post isn't to debate the merits or the morality of FFS. It's here and it's here to stay. I'd venture to say that almost every boat in the Bassmaster Elite and the MLF Bass Pro Tour are running FFS. But what I want to know is how many of you kayak guys are running FFS? I have no illusions (or delusions) of giving up my day job and making a living off of fishing. I do this for fun and for PR for my hotel. And the fact is that I'll be 60 years old this year and I want to do stuff like this while I'm still in good health. But I'd also like to be competitive out there and that's going to be tough, especially because I have never fished most of these lakes before. And of course, it's quite an investment. Going with the older Garmin Livescope and a new head unit alone is about $2,500, then another few hundred for the transducer mount, at least another couple of hundred for wiring and through the hull wiring mounts, then the mounting for the new head unit. I have more than enough LIFPO batteries to power everything, so I don't need to invest more there. I'm not complaining about the money, just pointing out that it's yet another investment (Kayak Monkey?). By the time I total up the kayak, electronics, trailer, and equipment I'm thinking that maybe I should have just bought a Tracker boat instead! (Not really, I do enjoy the kayak life). So, back to the topic at hand. Are some of you guys, especially kayak tournament anglers, taking the plunge and putting FFS on your kayaks? If so, are you happy with your decision to do that?

I hope I get to that point. I love pitching and skipping baits.

I actually have not tried to stand and fish yet. As an older guy, my balance is not what it used to be. When the water is warm in the spring I'll give it a try, but I'm not keen on falling in when the water temp is only 53 degrees. I do stand in it briefly when I embark from my dock, but I don't enjoy the wobble. Perhaps it's easier to stand when it's moving forward slowly.

There was a to. of debris in Sinclair the other day as well, and some of it was pretty big. I hope no boaters hit that stuff at speed.

You don’t use the foot pedals and rudder to steer? Are you standing and fishing most of the time? I agree that the remote is clunky. I use the lanyard and keep it around my neck. Have you tried the i-Pilot app? It only has basic functions, but it might be a solution. I thought about uploading it to an old phone or small tablet and velcro it down by my side. I could set the device so it was always on and plug it in to my Yak Power battery box so it always has power. But even though that would start looking like the helm on Star Trek, it would probably still be cumbersome as you would still have to turn and look. If I had a wish list, it might be an easy tactile panel at my side with buttons for motor on/off, speed up, speed down, and spot lock. Or maybe I’ll just wait for the Elon Musk Neural Link and Minnkota interface package.

I finally got around to installing my nav lights but have not installed the button lights, I went with a Yak power setup, but I have mixed feelings so far. The 5 port switch is in the hull storage behind my front seat, and then I put the Yak Power battery box just behind that in the tank well since it did not fit in the hull storage. I already had both a 7ah and 10ah LIPO on hand, so I put them in there to run my electronics and lighting. I went with the two batteries because I like to do a lot of night fishing, but probably the 10ah would be enough. But when I connected the battery box to the switch and turned it on the switch would not work. I couldn't find my multi meter (probably still in an unopened box from my move last fall) so I hooked directly to the 10ah and stowed that in the hull. But even then when I used the Yak Power controller mounted to the rail it didn't always engage the switch, but worked with the app. As for the nav lights, they work but even after cleaning the hull I'm not sure the sticky tape is going to last. So far I'm not sold on Yak Power. I also ordered a second 100ah battery that I will store on board as a backup. While I won't need that backup for recreational fishing, I checked the launch points for a few upcoming tournaments (especially Lake Murray) and areas that I want to fish and I have 3-4 mile runs to get to those areas. I want to be able to run wide open. I can save 20 minutes running at max speed. So far I like the Autopilot, but I do miss the instant reverse of my pedal drive. With the Autopilot you need to swing the motor 180 to reverse. One thing I have not taken advantage of is plotting courses on the i-Pilot remote (it doesn't link to the fish finder). I think that will come in handy for some stretches, especially tournament fishing. I also took the advice I received here on BR and stow an extra prop and shear pins.

It's been a month now and water visibility has increased to a whole two inches! I got out on the water yesterday and did some fishing but mostly scouted locations, I have a tournament next weekend, and with warmer weather this past week and all of next week and our water temps increasing, I expect the bass will start staging nearer their spawning grounds. I expect with the shorter runs to shallow water they will be in the shallows a little more than the past few weeks. But just in case, I marked spots where I saw on my electronics I saw a lot of fish and baitfish around humps in deeper water. While I was running in deep, open water I saw a lot of schooling fish at 7-12 feet which I assume were stripers and crappie. Tomorrow I have two creek channels to check out where thee are inflows of fresher water. But I'm also going to bring a few spoons to vertically fish any schools I see in open water. I'm really liking the Autopilot. While running at 5-6 speed I'm at around 2.7 - 2.9 mph which is slower than my 3 - 3.1 cruising speed in my pedal drive. But obviously I can cover more water since I don't have to rest.

Welcome to BR. Glad to see I'm not the only old guy in a kayak.

I live in the SC Lowcounty for decades. I've been stalked and chased by gators while bank fishing. Good times.

I used to fish a lot of Lew’s gear, but then migrated to Curado MGL’s, K’s, and DC’s and I really like them. When I was browsing the other day my intent was to buy a Daiwa, but the Lew’s caught my eye, especially with it being on sale. Paired with my Bass X, it feels perfectly balanced and paired. It rivals any of my Curado’s paired with my Exprides. It’s hard to explain, but it just feels right.

The other day I needed to buy some additional Yak Power cables for my kayak and in order to avoid shipping fees I needed to buy more. The Team Lew’s Pro SP pitching and skipping reel was on sale for $149. Yes, I realize the ridiculousness of spending $150 to save 20 bucks in shipping. That was the Bait Monkey seeking justification to buy a new reel. Anyway, I just spooled this up this morning and dialed it in. I have no problem pitching and skipping with my Curados, but I do have to say that this reel both feels and performs better, especially paired with my Bass X rod. I’ve heard this reel also works great with light baits. Even if that’s not the case, I’m really happy with this purchase.

Chihuahua / Dachsund mix. It's this guy right here:

I was at work this afternoon when my son, Matt, called me with a bit of excitement in his voice. We have some big windows on the back of the house that overlook the lake, but because it has been cold out we keep the thermal curtains drawn. But today it was sunny and the temperature got to the upper 60's, so he opened the curtains and then put a blanket on the floor so our dog Boomer, a small Chiweenie, could take a nap in the sun. So with Boomer sprawled on the floor and Matt sprawled out on the couch, they both relaxed until a loud BANG startled them both. It seems that a hawk spotted Boomer and swooped in only to crash into the window. Luckily, the window didn't break. Both Matt and Boomer were a bit shaken, and the hawk flew off and perched on a small foot bridge on our property. Matt said the hawk sat there staring into the window keeping an eye on Boomer. Matt finally had enough, went outside, and scared off the hawk. I'm out back in the yard and on my dock with my dog all of the time, and more than once I've seen a hawk camp out on my shed eyeing the dog. I might have to put up a few decoy owls or hang some old, shiny CD's or something like that to try and deter the hawk from hunting in my yard.

Another reason why power boating schools and a watercraft license should be required.

My first rule of fish finders is not to buy what you need today, but to buy what you will need in two years.

Thanks for the offer, but no need to PM. I am just interested in what other anglers have being it DIY or a pre-fab solution. My nav lights are due to be delivered today and the remaining connector on Thursday. With that, I will finish the wiring either Friday night or Saturday morning before I hit the lake.